I FINALLY managed to get my hands on Bark (the record, not the CD) at this cool place called Red Eye Records in Sydney where I was on holiday for the past 8 days, and I LOVE that song!! What she's actually saying in German doesn't really make much sense and isn't exactly correct at all, but man it's a GREAT song!!! I LOVE IT! I also really love Crazy Miranda.

I love the 'German' song too.It's a very weird song..But I have to say that the lyrics doesn't in German at all; I speak German much better than English, and I have to say that the lyrics doesn't mean anything. I don't know if Grace wanted to speak in German but she couldn't speak the language good, or it was just a fun...Anyway, I think the language sounds very similar to dutch language, it was my first expression when I heard the song.

Oh, and I love THUNK. It's a great song, sounds not like a typical Airplane song but very nice. I don't know who is exactly singing in the song..And Rock 'n' roll Island, War Movie are great great songs as well. I think BARK is a good album.

'No matter how big or soft or warm your bed is, you still have to get out of it' - Gracie

It is also a known fact that Gracie and Paul were at that time romantically involved... A liaison which subsequently resulted in the development of a newer human named China.

Back to the topic at hand: Paul Kantner is VERY much of German, some would say Teutonic lineage... Can you imagine the sparks that would fly when Baron Von Tollbooth himself and her highness The chrome Nun might have "argued"???

I am sure that SOMEONE would be tired!!!

And yet not only but also-- the great Joey Covington was the singer and song-writer of the funky "Thunk".

Heheh. I think it'd be sort of fun to have an argument with Grace. I'm not scared of a bit of a fight. Nothing too intense though. I do love Grace, and wouldn't want to hurt her with words, and blah, blah.

Anyway, yeah, the lyrics aren't proper German. She's said that herself. She knows they don't make any sense. She "couldn't be bothered" looking up the right ones. LOL. I could only identify maybe one sort of bit that could make sense, which was something like, "Mein auto fahrt schnell" or something. I don't even know if it was schnell, but meh. *shrug*

Lilla wrote:I love the 'German' song too.It's a very weird song..But I have to say that the lyrics doesn't in German at all; I speak German much better than English, and I have to say that the lyrics doesn't mean anything.

They are in German, just not very good German. For an analogy, it's like if one said in English: Me no speak so good.

According to Paul Kantner's lyrics book this is the English translation to the song:

sticks in my feetsticks in my skinmixing my gas with my spitdon't argue with a German when you are tiredmy car drives very fast but it is crashing against wallsyes, that is mineyes, that is youyou, that is meplease drive fast

Chasin-Destiny wrote:It's a long story, for what i know about it. In the year 1971/72 Grace did havea car accident, she did destroy a Mercedes. The story about is that Jorma andGrace did like some fast cars. At that moment Jorma did save her live !!!And...... the Jefferson Airplane or Jefferson Starship was in Germany.Something did happen there, the story is on Got A Revolution.And...... there is World War 2, about Nazi's etc. etc.Maybe (i don't know), maybe some family from her did get killed by Nazi's.

So, all these things together did give her an inspiration to write that song.

I think it was an Aston-Martin. The car accident happened in San Francisco. Grace and Jorma were drag racing when Grace crashed. The reason the song is "Never Argue With a German" is because Paul is German. What happened in Germany with Grace didn't occur until 1978 (during Jefferson Starship's tour for the album Earth), long after this song was written.

According to the People Magazine article written about her in the 70s it was her Aston-Martin. The Aston-Martin she had paid cash for. And she wrecked it when she was drag-racing Jorma. That story is in the Got a Revolution book.

JoeD80 wrote:......She'd always had a thing about Germany. Once Grace had written a song,"Never Argue With A German If You're Tired or European Song." The other party in thealtercation in question could have been her bandmate, Paul Kantner, the iron-willed formeraltar boy, whose forebears were of German extraction and who was at the time her lover,soon to be the father of her child..

Maybe it's in the liner notes for the remaster, or the Got a Revolution book, but it was definitely Paul she was referring to with "Never Argue with a German". They already had a child. China was born January, 1971. Never Argue was recorded around May, 1971. Bark was released September, 1971.